Peter Karayiannis
Professor
Profile
Peter Karayiannis is Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Virology at the University of Nicosia Medical School.
Professor Karayiannis holds a BSc Degree in Microbiology obtained at Liverpool University and a PhD in Medical Microbiology (Chlamydiology) from the same University.
His research interests are concerned with the hepatitis viruses, predominantly B and C (HBV, HCV) and include the study of the mechanisms that favour viral persistence and evasion of the immune response during chronic infection, the effect of HBV variants arising during the natural history of the infection on long term disease outcome and those arising as a result of human intervention, through vaccination or antiviral treatment, as well as new approaches to treatment. Other research interests include studies on the basic molecular biology of both HBV and HCV, the role of various viral proteins in the replication of the viruses, possible interference with cellular biosynthetic or defence pathways, as well as their role in hepatocarcinogenesis. More recently, his research work has concentrated on the role of genomic HCV mutations that have been identified in isolates from immune privileged sites such as peripheral blood mononuclear cells and brain tissue, and the effect of such mutations on the replication capacity of infectious clones of the virus.